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Digest of Education Statistics
2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 142. Percent of public high school graduates earning minimum credits in selected combinations of academic courses, by sex and race/ethnicity: 1982 to 2000

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                 |   All     |          Sex          |                        Race/ethnicity
       Year of graduation        | students  |_______________________|___________________________________________________________
           and course            |           |   Male    |   Female  | White, non| Black, non| Hispanic  |  Asian/   | American
      combinations taken\1\      |           |           |           | Hispanic  | Hispanic  |           | Pacific   |  Indian/
                                 |           |           |           |           |           |           | Islander  |  Alaska
                                 |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |  Native
_________________________________|___________|___________|___________|___________|___________|___________|___________|___________
                1                |   2       |   3       |   4       |   5       |   6       |   7       |   8       |   9
_________________________________|___________|___________|___________|___________|___________|___________|___________|___________
         1982 graduates          |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,  |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
  .5 Comp., and 2 F.L.\2\ .......| 2.0 (0.22)| 2.3 (0.31)| 1.8 (0.27)| 2.4 (0.28)| 0.7 (0.28)| 0.6 (0.22)| 5.8 (1.72)| 1.1 (0.77)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,  |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
  and 2 F.L. ....................| 9.5 (0.57)| 9.1 (0.70)| 9.9 (0.71)|10.9 (0.69)| 5.2 (1.02)| 3.9 (0.57)|17.0 (2.49)| 3.3 (1.68)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math ..|14.3 (0.66)|15.2 (0.86)|13.4 (0.79)|15.9 (0.79)|11.0 (1.39)| 6.7 (0.79)|21.1 (2.65)| 8.1 (3.02)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 2 Sci., 2 Math ..|31.5 (1.07)|31.7 (1.26)|31.3 (1.22)|32.4 (1.21)|30.8 (2.32)|25.6 (1.76)|32.0 (3.40)|23.6 (5.39)
                                 |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
         1987 graduates          |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,  |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
  and .5 Comp., and 2 F.L.\2\ ...|10.6 (0.73)|11.5 (1.01)| 9.8 (0.65)|11.3 (0.97)| 6.6 (0.91)| 5.5 (1.03)|20.5 (2.57)| 2.5 (0.86)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,  |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
  and 2 F.L. ....................|18.1 (0.91)|18.0 (1.13)|18.3 (1.01)|19.0 (1.10)|12.7 (1.15)|10.8 (1.70)|35.7 (4.49)| 4.9 (1.40)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math ..|24.8 (1.03)|25.9 (1.27)|23.7 (1.07)|26.1 (1.21)|19.6 (1.99)|14.5 (1.69)|39.8 (4.51)|24.3 (3.69)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 2 Sci., 2 Math ..|48.1 (1.74)|48.0 (2.22)|48.4 (1.56)|48.1 (2.15)|48.3 (2.63)|43.9 (1.92)|57.9 (4.82)|61.8 (5.56)
                                 |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
         1990 graduates          |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,  |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
  .5 Comp., and 2 F.L. \2\.......|18.0 (1.06)|17.8 (1.16)|18.2 (1.09)|18.6 (1.21)|15.1 (1.66)|17.8 (2.42)|23.3 (2.23)| 7.8 (3.33)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,  |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
  and 2 F.L. ....................|29.9 (1.26)|28.8 (1.38)|31.0 (1.36)|31.7 (1.46)|22.9 (2.27)|25.4 (2.41)|42.6 (2.95)| 9.9 (3.70)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math ..|38.2 (1.50)|38.5 (1.69)|37.9 (1.54)|39.2 (1.63)|39.0 (3.57)|29.8 (2.51)|47.4 (3.04)|19.2 (4.70)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 2 Sci., 2 Math ..|65.5 (1.96)|64.3 (2.09)|66.4 (1.98)|64.9 (2.28)|71.3 (3.00)|63.7 (3.01)|69.1 (3.90)|46.3 (6.39)
                                 |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
         1994 graduates          |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,  |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
  .5 Comp., and 2 F.L. \2\.......|25.1 (1.05)|23.4 (0.93)|26.8 (1.32)|26.4 (1.19)|19.0 (1.45)|27.1 (3.75)|35.5 (2.84)|12.9 (3.09)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,  |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
  and 2 F.L. ....................|39.0 (1.12)|35.0 (1.11)|42.7 (1.33)|41.6 (1.32)|29.6 (1.52)|35.6 (2.94)|50.1 (2.39)|22.5 (4.31)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math ..|49.3 (1.45)|47.0 (1.45)|51.5 (1.58)|52.4 (1.67)|43.7 (2.39)|40.3 (3.25)|54.9 (2.46)|46.0 (3.30)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 2 Sci., 2 Math ..|73.9 (1.50)|71.2 (1.63)|76.4 (1.46)|75.1 (1.69)|74.5 (2.32)|74.7 (2.61)|72.3 (3.62)|76.3 (3.60)
                                 |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
         1998 graduates          |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,  |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
  .5 Comp., and 2 F.L. \2\.......|28.6 (1.72)|27.6 (2.12)|30.1 (1.90)|29.6 (1.99)|27.9 (3.36)|20.4 (2.44)|38.6 (4.61)|16.5 (4.65)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,  |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
  and 2 F.L. ....................|44.2 (1.92)|40.5 (2.19)|48.2 (2.05)|46.2 (2.16)|40.0 (3.41)|32.0 (2.94)|57.8 (4.51)|28.3 (4.53)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math ..|55.0 (2.44)|52.9 (2.64)|57.8 (2.48)|56.8 (2.69)|55.6 (4.39)|40.0 (3.28)|66.1 (5.69)|40.0 (4.73)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 2 Sci., 2 Math ..|74.5 (2.18)|72.8 (2.34)|77.0 (2.14)|74.7 (2.64)|76.0 (3.21)|70.1 (2.57)|79.5 (4.76)|76.4 (5.21)
                                 |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
         2000 graduates          |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,  |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
  .5 Comp., and 2 F.L. \2\.......|31.0 (1.53)|28.6 (1.59)|33.2 (1.73)|31.5 (1.55)|28.9 (1.65)|28.4 (5.50)|37.8 (5.45)|16.2 (2.69)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,  |           |           |           |           |           |           |           |
  and 2 F.L. ....................|46.5 (1.46)|40.3 (1.59)|52.1 (1.60)|47.8 (1.56)|44.2 (2.14)|38.4 (5.05)|56.5 (3.13)|25.6 (3.40)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math ..|57.2 (1.58)|52.9 (1.65)|61.1 (1.70)|58.1 (1.70)|62.4 (2.44)|46.4 (5.46)|61.1 (3.11)|40.9 (5.56)
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 2 Sci., 2 Math...|77.6 (1.58)|74.2 (1.86)|80.6 (1.44)|77.9 (1.84)|81.2 (2.23)|74.1 (3.24)|74.5 (3.05)|71.2 (4.44)
_________________________________|___________|___________|___________|___________|___________|___________|___________|___________

\1\Eng. = English; S.S. = social studies; Sci. = science; Comp. = computer science; and F.L. = foreign language.
\2\The National Commission on Excellence in Education recommended that all college-bound high school students take these courses as a minimum.

NOTE: Data differ slightly from figures appearing in other NCES reports because of differences in taxonomies and case exclusion criteria.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "High School and Beyond," First Followup survey; "1990 High School Transcript Study," and "High School Transcript Study," various years. (This table was prepared November 2002.)


2002 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest